[Bill Douglas]

He sounds like a great man, and so does your mother. It’s a shame your dad and my dad never met. Both great men.

My dad was born at the age of five to poor Russian immigrants and all the way through school people made fun of his Irish accent. I think it was this that led him to run away and join the circus as the “crying baby” star of the show. Probably a year or two before he finished med school he got expelled from day care centre but it was this that lead to him meeting my mother (bless her). She was somewhat of a working class hero, only three seats from the throne, but highly dedicated to her life of going to embassy parties and feeding the goldfish, plus picking the kids up from school in the SUV. My dad’s folks, a bunch of hippies, sitting around surfing each day in Colorado, didn’t really approve at first but the day he paddled out and caught the biggest wave Colorado has ever seen – a sight to behold. Kids running, screaming for miles, as the huge wave came in with dad surfing it. In fact he got a gold medal in the Olympics just for that one wave. Anyway I must go. Dad’s glass of whisky is nearly empty and I’d hate for him to wake up.